Thug Life: ‘Dulquer Salmaan’s great escape’, say netizens; now praise him for rejecting Kamal Haasan film

In early 2024, when reports emerged that Salute actor Dulquer Salmaan had decided against being a part of veteran filmmaker Mani Ratnam and Kamal Haasan’s Thug Life, over supposed scheduling issues, netizens and industry insiders said it would be a costly miss for the actor. Dulquer was meant to essay the character that eventually went to Silambarasan. Owing to prior commitments, Varane Avashyamund actor Dulquer was reportedly unable to adjust dates for revised schedules of Thug Life and exited the project. He then went on to make the Telugu hit Lucky Baskhar instead.

Thug Life: Dulquer goes from what a miss to just miss

Now that Thug Life is in theatres and overwhelmingly negative reviews have been pouring in for the much-hyped Kamal-Mani reunion, netizens are singing a different tune. “DQ’s great escape!” “Dulquer escaped from Thug Life and did this (Lucky Baskar) masterpiece! Excellent choice”, “Thank you for Rejecting #ThugLife. You done the great decision & great Escape!! Thug life turns out be Disappointed outing from Manirathnam!”, “Everyone trolled DQ when he turned down #ThugLife and chose to do the Telugu masterpiece #LuckyBhasker instead. But now, after Thug Life's release, no one's saying he missed a golden opportunity — looks like they all quietly disappeared”, are just some of the comments that have been popping up on social media.

Netizens are also praising the actor for having the guts to say no to a filmmaker of Mani Ratnam’s (Roja) ca libre, a decision that has paid off for him. Incidentally, actor Ravi Mohan (Jayam Ravi) had also left the project for similar reasons and he too is now being hailed for his “wise decision”. Thug Life, meanwhile, opened to scathing reviews, with the uninspired writing and weak characterisation making the gangster drama nothing but dull.

Audiences who were hoping that Mani and Kamal would recreate the magic of Nayagan were left disappointed. In fact, the question that remained was if Thug Life was better or worse than Indian 2 or if both were equally bad.